Council Rock South thumps Spring-Ford

Thursday

The Golden Hawks cruised in a rematch of last season's PIAA District One Class 3A Dual-Meet Tournament final.

HOLLAND — If there were any doubters left about how good Council Rock South is, they should be gone after watching what the Golden Hawks did on the mat Thursday night.

Taking on Spring-Ford in a rematch of last season's PIAA District One Class 3A Dual-Meet Wrestling Tournament final, the Golden Hawks dominated from start to finish on the way to a convincing 45-15 victory.

"We were ready to go," said South junior Cole Flanagan, who had one of the Golden Hawks' three pins, his coming at 152 pounds. "We were in better condition than they were and everybody really did a good job."

The win, which came without senior standout Shane Hanson-Ashworth (a PIAA state qualifier last season) in the lineup due to an illness, will keep CR South No. 1 in the rankings in PIAA District One Class 3A by www.pa-wrestling.com and also at No. 6 in the state by www.papowerwrestling.com. The Rams entered the match ranked No. 2 in the district by www.pa-wrestling.com and No. 24 in the state by www.papowerwrestling.com.

South beat Spring-Ford 46-20 in the district title match last season and then 36-22 in the consolation rounds of the PIAA state dual-meet tournament in Hershey.

"I like having these dual meets against strong teams," Silimper said. "We gave up going to a dual-meet tournament (the Parkland Duals) to wrestle them and that's fine with me. You want to try and change things up for the kids to keep things interesting. Spring-Ford has a really good program and we'll be going to their place next year for a dual meet."

The Golden Hawks never trailed in this one as senior Max Mendez — a two-time PIAA state qualifier and Southeast Regional champ last season — started things with a 26-second fall at 120 pounds. The Rams would win two of the next three bouts (sandwiched around a major decision by the Golden Hawks' Braden Ricchini at 132) before CR South rattled off four straight victories, including the pin from Flanagan and three major-decision triumphs from Eric Woloshyn at 145, Matt Colajezzi at 160 and Nik Korbich at 170.

The run by the Golden Hawks pushed their advantage to 28-6 and all but sealed things.

"You expect your studs to get bonus points and we were able to get that tonight," Silimperi said. "But what really helps are when the other guys come through. We had some guys wrestling their first varsity matches tonight and they all gave it everything they had.

"That's so important to a program's success. You don't want to give up forfeits and seeing somebody new to the sport do well is a great feeling."

One of those newcomers was junior Oleksiy Chaban (285), who picked up a second-period pin.

"He used a move for the pin I taught him the other day at practice called the walk of life," said Flanagan. "That was so great to see. He gets a pin in is first varsity match and you're just really happy for him. Our team is really doing well. We want to be able to do what we did last year and more. Everybody is working really hard and the coaches always have us ready."

The Golden Hawks also received a technical fall from sophomore Cavan Kinne (106).

"It was just a solid all-around effort," Silimperi said. "All of the kids are really doing a good job."

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